Once Bitten, No Longer Shy by Julie Steimle (chrome ebook reader txt) 📕

mouth, murmuring rather matter-of-factly, “Well, so can my fiancée, and she learned to control it. So can you.”

His fiancée? Troy’s mind went to that dark angel. It could not be a coincidence. “Is your fiancée a winged vampire?”

The doctor nearly dropped his penlight, color draining from his face. “Yes. Have you seen her? Her name is Eve!”

“I don’t know her name,” Troy grumbled, resentment boiling up inside. She had done this to him. She had allowed him to become a vampire. “But she was here just a second ago.”

“What?” That doctor, Hanz, turned his head straight for Tom Brown whom he clearly knew.

Tom averted his gaze at first, but then shrugged as if it were no big deal. “Yeah, she’s here in New York City.”

Hanz popped to his feet. “She’s here in New York?”

It felt as if a fight was about to happen. That Hanz appeared like he could be nothing more than a hidden façade for the god of thunder, Thor. No beard, though he did look like he had not shaved in twenty-four hours. But Tom treated Hanz’s anger like a buddy dealing with simple bad news, nodding to the doctor.

Matthew slapped the back of Tom’s head, shooting him a reproving look.  

Turning around, Tom snapped, “What? You want me to lie to him?”

Moaning, Matthew cringed. To Hanz, as if the more urgent matter was to deal with this man rather than Troy’s hastening vampiric state, Matthew said, “I’m sorry. We would have told you, but she is in a bad way—”

In a bad way? Troy blinked, recalling that dark angel. Bullet wounds. Bleeding. Yes… that would be in a bad way. But she was an angel of death. Isn’t that what they all looked like?

“What do you mean in a bad way?” Hanz shouted at Matthew.

“Let’s get you up and to a car,” Randon whispered into Troy’s ear, helping him stand. 

“You smell like garlic,” Troy hissed, leaning away from his buddy’s breath.

Silvia took up Troy’s other side. “We had pizza at Danny’s house.”

“Who is Danny?” Troy asked. His entire body ached.

“My brother.” Silvia gestured to the first swordsman.

“We were at his house when we got your text,” Randon said. “Can you walk? How do you feel?”

But Troy was distracted by Matthew’s response to Hanz. “She’s not—”

“She’s an angel of death,” Troy shot back, sick of the argument. He was still furious with her.

But Hanz snapped back, “That I know!”

Troy stared more at this man. What kind of person was he?

Hanz glared at Tom who acted inclined to spill the beans on a huge secret. It was in his eyes.

“What happened to her? Where is she?” Hanz demanded. He gave the impression he would summon lightning if he could zap Tom, and anyone else who denied him information, off the face of the earth.

Yet Tom gazed past him to Randon then Troy. He said, “Let’s get you to a hospital.”

Troy rolled his eyes. Like a hospital could help him now.

“The nearest one?” Matthew murmured.

Troy watched Tom peek at Hanz, who was still fuming. Tom said, “Yes.”

That Hanz was about to blow a gasket for being ignored. Apparently even he thought his problem was more important than Troy’s. He was about to shout when his eyes caught on another man—the other one who had been hiding and watching from a distance. Troy did not know him, but several in the group seemed to recognize him. He had come up to Hanz, tugging on his arm to get them to leave.

The guy called Red had paled, murmuring, “Art.”

They guy waved nervously at Red with a weak chuckle. “Hi.”

“What are you doing here?” Andy asked, trying to pull Art aside.

But then Hanz hooked on Art’s arm and said, “He came here with me.”

“How do you know—?”

“We’re part of the same church,” Hanz said.

“But he’s from Idaho!” Andy protested. “And how did you get here?”

Troy could not believe this. Standing between Randon and Silvia, his body still suffering in transition with aches and burning, everything seemed to go on pause for yet another reunion.

“Airplane, Uber, train, feet.” Hanz looked like he was trying hard not to explode at all of them. He snapped, “I asked you guys to help me find Eve. And you all hid her from me.”

“To be fair,” Silva’s brother Danny raised a hand, “None of the Seven knew she was in New York.”

The Seven? Troy glanced at his key fob which was still flashing. There was a huge number seven on it. Rick had said was a symbol of the group who would come to help him if he ever activated it. Apparently Danny was one of them.

Matthew and Tom tugged on Randon, indicating they go. They headed toward the curb.

Hanz saw them move. He jogged after them. “Hey!”

“You can follow us,” Matthew said with an intent frown on his face, not revealing what was really going on in his mind. But Troy was sure Matthew knew what Hanz was thinking. It was Matthew’s gift. “But be forewarned, you’re not going to like what you find.”

“Maybe he’ll like it,” Tom muttered.

Troy groaned internally as Randon and Silva exchanged confused looks. Matt and Tom were playing that psychic conversation game again. It was annoying as they didn’t need to say much to each other to talk.

But when they got to the road, Matthew halted with a stare. “Who has a car?”

“Where’s your car?” Danny marched up to Randon’s hybrid, which Troy knew Rick had bought for him as a safety precaution. Troy had refused the same gift because he didn’t like being beholden to Rick Deacon.

“In the shop. Someone cut the fuel lines,” Matthew muttered. “It looked like gremlin work.”

Weary, Troy wondered how much of that was true. Matthew was in a dangerous line work. He was NYPD’s supernatural expert and a detective.

“I’ve got a car,” Randon said, lifting up his keys.

Tom called out, “How many people can we fit in the cat’s car?”

Randon shot Tom a look for being called ‘the cat’, especially since not everyone in the crowd was privy to that knowledge. That guy Art looked confused, though Hanz just seemed weary.

“I’ve got my own car,” Red declared, waving to it. “I can drive Hanz and Art.”

As that guy Red led them off, talking to JJ as one would a close acquaintance, Tom called out, “Is JJ driving?”

JJ lifted his head with one sorry glance at Troy and said, “I’m going back to the main station to make a report.”

Those riding with Red whispered together. Red called out, “What hospital are we going to?”

“Just follow us,” Matthew said, shooting Hanz yet another glance. Troy watched him.

When they got into the car, Randon at the steering wheel with Silvia in the back with Troy and Tom, Matthew sat shotgun and said to Randon, “I’ll put in the GPS. Go slow.”

“What is this really about?” Randon asked when he tugged on his seat belt. “Why this hospital? It is a bit out of the way. The nearest one is—”

“I know.” Nodding to him, Matthew looked back to Troy who was feeling the aches now crawl all over his skin. “But Randon, you know there is nothing we can do for Troy now except get him cleaned up and indoors.”

Troy cringed, realizing it was true.

Matthew said to him, “She was your death angel, wasn’t she?”

Closing his eyes, Troy clenched his teeth, nodding.

“What kind of punishment do you think she got for saving his life?” Tom murmured.

“Saving my life?” Troy turned on him. “I’m a vampire now! How is that saving my life?”

Tom looked nonplussed. “You’re not dead.”

Randon cleared his throat. “Troy, you’ve still got a life. It’s just changed now….”

Clenching his teeth, shaking his head, Troy could not take it. It was the worst. He wanted to die.

 

 

Before the Dawn

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

 

 

Troy had given up. He was now a vampire, which meant his life was over. He had added it up. After studying vampire folklore and mysticism for so many years he had learned the ins and outs of what people knew about them. First and foremost was that they could not abide natural light. Firelight and candlelight were tolerable, though dangerous. Sunlight was absolutely nuclear on a vampire body. Just a few seconds in sunlight, and he would be turned to dust. This meant no more life in daylight, and that was abysmal.

Honestly, Troy loved the sun. He loved sunlight. He loved sitting in it. He loved picnics in it. His favorite season was summer. After graduation, he had hoped to move to a hot sunny state where he could live free of the vampire threat. But that was no longer a possibility.

And he also loved garlicky foods. Italian pastas. Chinese dishes. Great wonderful European meals with a variety of flavors, all chocked with garlic. But being a vampire meant no more pizza—ever. No more lasagna, his favorite. And no more calzones, his go-to lunches. And that would suck.

By the time they reached the hospital, Troy had also come to the realization that he also could not continue his studies at the university, as all his classes were in the day. He would have to drop out now. And how could he get a job to pay off his useless college debt? What about that?

“Come on.” Tom tugged on Troy’s arm, urging to get him out of the car.

“What’s the point?” Troy murmured. But after Silvia pushed him to go, he followed Tom out to the curb.

It was late and dark. Troy was tired. He did not think that a vampire got tired, but then weakly chuckled to himself, realizing that of course they did. They slept in the day time. His father had. This was not a Twilight novel after all. He was not going to be sparkly or become invulnerable. He was not going to be quicker than most humans. Nor stronger—not without learning vampire magic which he doubted a vampire would bother to teach him if he wanted to learn it at all. He was just going to live forever, addicted to smell and taste of blood. It was going to suck. And he hated that pun.

Like a cluster of bodyguards, the entire group surrounded him. His body still throbbed from the transformation, including his legs. Seeing this, they physically lifted him off the ground and carried him into the emergency entrance of the hospital. Hanz, with Red and Art, followed behind them.

“You can’t bring him in here!” A doctor approached on long legs, his expression apoplectic as he clearly recognized a vampire when he saw one. Smart man.

“This is a hospital, isn’t it?” Tom shot back, his shoulders heaving up. His wings had to be fluttering under his suit coat, straining to get out.

“No,” Troy muttered, too weary for this. “Just take me to the roof.”

“What? Why?” Randon rounded on him, bristling like a cat. His eyes read exactly what Troy was thinking. “No. You’re NOT jumping off!”

His other friends stared in horror.

“Let the sun take me,” Troy moaned out. Jumping was ridiculous. “I never wanted to be a vampire.”

Matthew went pale. “But Troy—”

“No.” Troy shook his head, clenching his teeth. “I don’t believe my destiny is set. I refuse to accept Carlos’s prediction.”

“Carlos,” Tom mouthed with a huff. “This isn’t about Morty!”

Randon grabbed Troy in a headlock, holding fast.